They find Elizabeth, who is fitting in with her new surroundings much more seamlessly than Amanda did in Elizabeth’s world. She returns to Longbourne with them, but who will return to Netherfield with Darcy?
Lost in Austen is pure escapism. Jemima Rooper as Amanda gets the line between doing the right thing and being swept away by every woman’s fantasy man just right. Hugh Bonneville and Alex Kingston play off each other well as Mr and Mrs Bennett, yet sadly we do not see enough of Gemma Arterton as Elizabeth. Tom Mison takes Bingley down an unfamiliar road of depression and self-destruction, and although it is not a pretty sight, Mison handles it well.
There are also some genuinely humorous moments, from Amanda’s voice-over thoughts, to her entertaining the Bingley’s with Petula Clark’s “Downtown”; but by far the most amusing scene involves Mr Darcy and a lake at Netherfield.
Austen purists will undoubtedly be affronted by the erratic plot, yet it is interesting to explore how the characters would act in situations and developments that are as alien to us as to them. All in all, Lost in Austen is an entertaining, refreshing version of a book so popular it is in danger of being done to death. It does not take itself seriously, and it is not meant to be; rather it is just light-hearted fun. Try finding something better to watch at nine o’clock on a Wednesday.
Article comments
1 - Leigh Oats
It's a diverting read, Catherine, but "Austen purists" (your phrase, apparently referring to some other people) have noticed that the archipelago of errors in your essay headed "TV Review: Lost in Austen" includes two attempts to persuade the world that Jane Austen's novel _Pride and Prejudice_ has a character whose name is precisely "Elizabeth Bennett".
Anyway, what sort of entity is "the Bingley"? And "the Bingley's" what?
Ah, well---it's only the innernets . . .
:-)
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Leigh Oats